Local 600/ICG Magazine’s “Deep Dive” #6 highlights one of the key creative partnerships at the heart of the six-time Oscar-nominated drama (including Best Picture and Best Cinematography), “Judas and the Black Messiah.” This virtual panel brings together co-writer/director, producer Shaka King, and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, BSC. The Warner Bros. feature, which premiered at Sundance 2021, showcases a variety of looks to support the storyline (based on real events in the late 1960s) – urban noir, recreated documentary footage, and a gritty naturalism that captures the fast-moving, often violent era. From the stunning continuous shot in a Chicago pool hall that opens the film, to the terrifying conclusion of the FBI’s mob-like assassination of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton as he slept in his apartment, King and Bobbitt have created a visual framework to support a film that will long resonate as both a cinematic and socio-political masterpiece.
